Stan K-Bootle ( Oct.01): "In a
novel, we can ditch causal chains, and, as in VN’s Invitation to a Beheading or
Prospero’s Tempest, just make the pageant disappear. That’s quite a coincidence,
nein?
JM: I wonder what kind of coincidence
SK-B mentioned related to "make the pageant disappear". The ending
of TRLSK suggested Prospero's Tempest to me, but there is something else
besides in it that arises from the cadences
of final sentences, as also in BS, Pale Fire and
Lolita , a kind of elongated exhalation, a trailing off as in
the ruined remnants and dust ...
TRLSK: And then the
masquerade draws to a close. The bald little prompter shuts his book, as the
light fades gently. The end, the end [...] but the hero remains, for, try as I
may, I cannot get out of my part: Sebastian's mask clings to my face, the
likeness will not be washed off. I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps
we both are someone whom neither of us knows.
PF:But whatever happens, wherever the scene is laid,
somebody, somewhere, will quietly set out — somebody has already set out,
somebody still rather far away is buying a ticket, is boarding a bus, a ship, a
plane, has landed, is walking toward a million photographers, and presently he
will ring at my door — a bigger, more respectable, more competent
Gradus.
Lolita: I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments,
prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I
may share, my Lolita.
BS:...an oblong puddle invariably acquiring the same form after every
shower because of the constant spatulate shape of a depression in the ground.
Possibly, something of the kind may be said to occur in regard to the imprint we
leave in the intimate texture of space. Twang. A good night for
mothing.
Sandy
Klein: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2008220633_werewolf05.html ]
Book Review by Richard
Wallace: "Sacred Book of the Werewolf"[...] is Russian
novelist/satirist Victor Pelevin's take on modern Russian consumerism, Chinese
werewolves and the work of the great Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, among
other things. [...]An ultra-chaste psychic vampiress, A Hu-Li takes life
energy, gives away fantasy and keeps her body for herself. When not practicing
her hypnotic sex trade, she reads voraciously and has a great love for Russian
authors, especially Vladimir Nabokov.
JM: Nabokov
mentions Russian folktales in "Glory" as magical sources of enchantment. He
lists Russian surnames to insist on something special about Martin's
grand-mother's, Indrikov. Squirrels and wolves are familiar enough all over
VN's novels, as are the rabbits:
GLORY(p.15) "the magical origin of
his grandmother's maiden name was a far cry from the various Volkovs
(Wolfs), Kunitsyns (Martens) or Belkins (Squirrelsons), and belonged to the
fauna of Russian fable. Once upon a time there prowled marvelous beasts in
our country "
Query: How should we translate "Indrikov"?